(Ezio Manzini, 20.1.2004)
Annex 1
Cases of enabling solutions
The selected cases of enabling solutions, or of initiatives that could easily evolve towards real enabling solutions, are organized in 3 categories, in relation to the kind of subject that is enabled:
- a final user of the given solution, user-oriented solutions
- a community that the solution facilitates, community-oriented solutions
- a micro-enterprise that, thanks to which the solution is created or reinforced, micro-entreprise-oriented solutions
1. User-oriented solutions
1.1 Enabling places
Learning how to cook
Many food shops also function as enabling platforms for new cooking skills and expertise. Un Mondo Leggero ( is a shop and restaurant in Milan that offers cooking courses and advice on light, natural diet meals, in conjunction with Associazione Sana Gola. Cous Cous Clan ( is a cultural association, operating in Turin, that sets out to discover “ethnic flavours”. As well as being a cookery circle, it offers cooking courses, guided food-tastings and intercultural itineraries. Edible (), in Great Britain, is orientated towards particularly exotic gastronomic experiences. It proposes recipes using animal and vegetable ingredients from tropical countries.
Other examples of these enabling places are the bakery that offers space for the preparation and refrigeration of food (Cottage Baker, Rugby, Warwickshire, UK - and the grocery shop that offers meetings and study courses (Nature Ride, Milan, Italy -
Another example of such a solution are the multi-service centres such as the Healthy Living Centre, Norfolk, UK ( where, along with medical services, you can find learning and working spaces, play space, a bar, a garden for the disabled, and a citizen’s advice desk.
Local offices
The spread of information and communication technology is changing the way we work and the places where we work. This has led to a request for new support services. Consequently, we see the opening of neighbourhood offices (tele-cottages) and support services for people who work from their own homes. In the first case, we are talking about a totally new kind of service that offers workstations, meeting and teleconference rooms, and secretarial services for hire (for example, Eureka, Milan, Italy - Virtual Station, Forteleza, Brazil - In the second case, it is a question of the evolution of existing facilities (like photo copying shops and/or switchboards) that provide access to support apparatus and services for distance working (photocopiers, special printers, access to the wide band network, and so on). For example, Mizen Telecottage, West Cork, Ireland - Wren Telecottage, Warwickshire, UK - Proxima, Milan Sesto San Giovanni, Italy -
Assisted do-it-yourself workshops.
In some countries, workshop have been opened which offer users the facilities of a modern workroom, with the necessary tools for various kinds of activity and the technical and professional advice required to fill gaps in their skill and know-how, should need arise. Cyclists can take their bikes to Bike Works () in Edmonton, Canada, and mend them themselves with specialised technical assistance if necessary. Similarly, Nuovo Centro Hobby in Castel Guelfo in Bologna, Italy ( is a carpentry workshop open to those who wish to work with wood, but do not possess the equipment to do so. As well as providing assistance, the centre organises training courses at various levels of specialisation.
1.2 Enabling organizations
To school on foot
Local authorities in some countries, either autonomously or in conjunction with other bodies and private firms, have set up projects to help families with their daily obligation to take children to school. This is the case of Walking Bus, in Great Britain ( and A scuola a piedi – to school on foot – in Italy ( In practice these initiatives consist in organising groups of children who go to school on foot together under the supervision of adult guides.
Bicycle services
In the past decades, projects have been activated in many cities to encourage the use of bicycles. This has been achieved mainly by creating cycling paths and supplementary services that facilitate the use of the bikes themselves. Some of the many examples are the Toronto Bike plan in Toronto ( the City Bike programme in Copenhagen ( and the Chiavi della citta` - city keys - project in Ravenna, which makes bikes available for moving around the historical centre of the city.
City vegetable gardens
Urban family vegetable gardening is a longstanding tradition that has been regaining popularity over recent years. In Great Britain, more than anywhere else, numerous local associations offer allotments for hire, to people who want to work their own piece of land, even in the major urban centers, and gather the fruits of their labors. (These associations are linked through the National Association of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners - ). This tendency is now growing on an international scale.
Adopt a tree…or a hen.
In various European situations it has become possible to adopt a tree (Agritime, in the province of Bolzano, Italy, hires out apple trees and grape vines - Under this system, whoever adopts a plant follows through the cultivation process during the year, joins in the harvest and receives the fruit. Something similar is being offered for hens and their eggs. These initiatives have a dual function: not only do they meet the demand for continuous, direct visibility over what we eat, but they also satisfy the desire to re-establish a closer relationship with “nature”, or at least with nature as regards organic cultivation and animal farming.
2. Community-oriented solutions
2.1 Elective communities
New barter organizations
New forms of barter are appearing all over the world. Organisations that advocate such dealings are known by various names (LETS – Local Exchange Trading Systems, SEL – Sustème d’Echange Local, BdT – Banche del Tempo, but they are based on the same fundamental principles, i.e. solidarity, reciprocation, and exchange (of goods and services, but also time and skill). These organisations constitute the contemporary, metropolitan evolution of the mutual help that neighbours have always given each other, but which tends to disappear in the new urban contexts.
The barter models they activate vary from country to country. In Italy, the members of the Banche del Tempo (), mostly women, carry out activities mainly associated with daily functions. In Ithaca, in the United States, Hours ( has generated a real local currency. Something similar has occurred in Hong Kong with the St. James Settlements and, especially, in Dakar, Senegal where the S.E.C. – Systèmes d’Echange Communitaires (), organises monthly markets where the local currency, the bons de travail is used. Finally, in Shanghai, members of an exchange organisation (Labour/Money Saving) offer their work in exchange for assistance in the future, when they are elderly.
In these organisations time and work become exchangeable resources not only to give in mutual assistance, but also to develop new forms of mutual trust and the feeling of belonging. In short, offering time and work serves to generate new forms of neighbourhood community, starting from the everyday.
Solidarity purchasing groups
Typical examples of enabling solutions are those that facilitate the organization of groups of people who get together and share shopping tasks. There are now many such purchasing networks in Italy, formed not only by people who live near each other, but also by people who wish to buy similar types of product or wish to choose their purchases according to precise ethical principles. For example, in Fidenza, Italy, the Rete Gas (Gruppo di acquisto solidale – solidarity purchasing group - has been set up to purchase organic produce and fair trade products.
Finnish communities have set up Ruokapiri (food circles) () in a similar way to the Italian GAS.
Bringing together people with similar interests
Meet Up () is a telematic platform existing in 561 cities in 34 countries throughout the world. Its aim is to bring together people with similar interests (from book crossing to cycling or silent movies, just to name a few) who live in the same city. Being residents in the same city means that participants in the scheme, as well as interacting on the net, can also interact physically, organizing real meetings. In this way, interest groups are set up that in turn lead to the creation of new kinds of hybrid, virtual-real, community.
2.2 Collaborative networks
Community-managed gardens
One local answer to the lack of vegetation can be seen in self help organisations that aim to recuperate run down or marginal urban areas and turn them into shared gardens. In these gardens, residents have the opportunity to cultivate allotments of land and while so doing exchange expertise and share gardening experiences. In Great Britain alone there are 1,200 cases of community gardens, members of the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens (). However, it is possible to name many other examples e.g. Alice Griffith Community Garden (San Francisco, USA - Clinton Community Garden () and Green Guerillas (New York, USA - Orti del Tempolibero (Milan, Italy -
A Canadian association Evergreen (), which develops programmes for the naturalisation of urban areas with direct citizen participation,should also be included in this perspective. Suitable places are the outside of school buildings, parks and private gardens and also not to be forgotten are the flower beds in the central reservation area and traffic islands of city roads.
3. Micro-entreprise-oriented solutions
3.1 Using at best existing resources
Micro-nurseries
They are nursery schools situated in private homes, able to accommodate small groups of children in the 0-3 age range. They are to be found in several countries (Italian examples are Terzo Tempo - Turin, CosePiccoli - Padova, MicroNidi in Bologna and Milano) and are interesting both from a social point of view and as an expression of a new form of micro-enterprise. Setting up a micro-nursery means that a mother can start her own small business, while looking after her own child together with other children and, at the same time, play a socially useful role and earn an income. Organisations that promote this kind of activity also provide the information and theoretical and technical advice necessary to do so; information on how to guarantee the required standards in buildings that will house the nursery, and on how to run it on both the educational and organisational plane. In addition, it is the duty of the central promotion and co-ordination offices to check the workings of the micro-nursery once set up, and guarantee adherence to the quality standards laid down by the controlling bodies.
Car- pooling
It is a way of optimizing each car journey utilizing at best some existing resources (the exiting cars and their owner’s capability to drive). Cara pooling is one of the different initiatives that have been developed within the field of alternative mobility over the past few years, giving rise to a real international movement. Just to give an idea of the size and scale of this movement we can name: Car Pooling Centre (Madrid), Lift Club (Beijing), Utrecht (Holland) ( and SACOG – Sacramento Area Council Government (California - for car-pooling.
3.2 Creating direct links between producers and users
Seasonal produce
Some organic fruit and vegetable home delivery organisations offer solutions that enable farmers to establish direct connections with the urban end user, providing a delivery service for seasonal fruit and vegetables. In practice, they supply the subscriber with a weekly crate of fruit and vegetables, the contents of which vary according to the season and what has actually been harvested. This is the case of Odin in Holland ( Le Campanier Paris. and Aarstiderne () in Denmark, for example. A similar service is provided by Handan Organic Vegetables in China.
Farmers’ markets in the cities
Another possibility of creating direct links is based on solutions that enable farmers to organize organic farmers’ markets in cities. These kinds of markets are becoming common in many cities. Farmers from the surrounding areas sell their produce directly to the consumer on a weekly basis. Among the many examples of this we can find Chilteman Market (Dublin), Prenzauerberg (Berlin), Anacostia Farmers Market (Washington D.C.) ( Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market (San Francisco), Mercato Biologico all’Isola (Milano) ( As well as offering a range of organic and natural products, these markets provide an opportunity to come face to face with traditional, farming life.
3.3 Creating opportunities for disadvantaged people
Social enterprises
Many examples of micro-enterprise operate as social enterprises, i.e. enterprises conceived in such a way as to produce economic and social value at the same time. These firms follow on the now famous initiative by patients and staff in the ex-psychiatric hospital in Trieste, who began setting up service co-operatives in 1987 and in so doing developed and put into practice the concept of social enterprise. Since then this idea and practice has spread and developed in different ways.
One interesting example is Laboratorio in Milan. This is a micro-enterprise operating in the catering and home meals delivery field (with particular reference to de-hospitalised patients who have difficulty in moving). The most interesting aspect of this initiative is that it is the positive outcome of work in a day centre for psychiatric patients who are supported and encouraged to realise their potential by developing their creative and entrepreneurial abilities. Cookery courses were set up in this spirit and these, in turn, led to the present activity in the catering field.
Other proposals tend to favour micro-enterprise in socially needy areas. Among these the DSNI, Dudley Street Neighbourhood Initiative in Boston ( is an initiative, which aims to recuperate one of the poorest neighbourhoods in the city. To this end, it promotes local micro-enterprise by organising the production and sale of items created by residents. The organisational and economic system has been conceived in, such a way that, as far as possible, proceeds remain “in situ”.
3.4 Indian micro-enterprises networks, some good examples
Home-made food delivery
There is a particularly interesting collaboration network behind Bombay Lunch Delivery in Bombay ( This initiative organises the daily distribution of thousands of home cooked meals produced by the wives of employees in offices throughout the city. The success of the service is due to the organisation of its underlying structure. A network of “meal porters” (the dabbawallah) who act as a link between the wives who cook the meals for their husbands working in the offices and pay a monthly subscription for the service provided. Today people who do not have a family, but who wish to receive a home cooked meal, can also subscribe to the system, which has been so successful that for the last few months it has also been possible to order meals on-line.
Milk micro-producer network
One very interesting Indian collaboration network is called Amul ( It is a co-operative association of milkmicro-producers (small farmers with a few head of cattle each), which as a unit, forms one of the largest milk producers in the world. These small farmers, scattered over a multitude of villages, are able to survive economically because they are part of this wider network. The role of the co-operative is both to collect, treat and distribute the milk, and to guarantee hygiene on the farms and the quality of the final product.
Women’s enterprise in India
A network which organises the work of women in the villages (Charaka) around the city of Bangalore in India, has been set up to sell their products in the city through a special chain of shops (Desi - They produce household objects, clothes, stationery and certain food items. Thanks to the quality of the products and the care and pleasant atmosphere in the shops, the initiative has been successful and has created paid work for groups of women in need, giving them personal satisfaction and social recognition.
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